The Spiritual Journey Part VIII: Depression and Anxiety

I know I'm publishing these posts fairly close together, but I felt that part eight couldn't wait.


I write this now as I'm feeling a slight panic attack. Over the past year or so, I've felt highs and lows and don't always know what to make of them. But again, what I've learned is that faith can help you, but it's not a cure-all. So what do I do when prayer, meditation and deep breathing don't help me? I go swimming if it's available. I feel at peace in the water, though I wish the chlorine smelled more pleasant. I feel the weight leave me and get myself to a point of... I wouldn't call it exhaustion, but I can call it good.
What do you do that makes you feel calm?

The Spiritual Journey Part VII: Simplicity in Faith

Hello again, dear readers.

While chatting on message boards, I've noticed that some people think faith has to be exceedingly complex. I think it's actually pretty darned simple. If you believe in God or some higher power, you don't need to be tied to all of the manmade rules. Some rules are good like treating others like you'd like to be treated.
There are some rules that shouldn't be treated as an absolute. I think it's pretty easy to recognize the rules that we all should follow and leave the rest behind.

Spiritual Journey Part VI: The Rediscovered Fun

Hello again, faithful readers!

Last time I was pretty down in the dumps with a lot of things going on in my life. This morning as I write, I reflect that the darkness doesn't have to last forever. Darkness falls but the light comes again. The past few days, I have enjoyed a break from heavier duty and have been able to do some fun things that I like. I've made three kinds of bread and loved every minute of it! For those of you who know me on other websites, you'll know that I love to bake. So yesterday, I made one of the things that was on my "drop in the bucket" list. I made challah bread. Challah, pronounced Hall-uh, is an egg bread traditionally made for the Jewish Shabbat or Sabbath if memory serves. I've always wanted to make it and yesterday, the weather where I lived was perfect for proofing the bread dough or helping it to rise. I did it successfully the first time I made it!

I think what we all need occasionally is time to just breathe. I'm out of the dark night for now.

Spiritual Journey V: Dark Night of the Soul

Hello again, dear readers.  This next topic deals with what is referred to as "the dark night of the soul." While I wish I had a Dark Knight of the soul, I think I am dealing with the first mentioned. Why am I bringing this up now? I believe I'm going through it in some form. It may be different than how others go through it, but I think I'm going through it. Rather than catalog the crud I'm dealing with, I'll just say that there are times I see God as fairly impersonal rather than the Being we can bring our problems to quite easily as I learned about in church and in the Seventh-day Adventist school I attended.
Am I a weak Christian for feeling this way? That I feel like God has abandoned me sometimes? I don't think so. In fact, I think questioning why you're being dumped on is okay. I think that was the whole point of the book of Job.

Spiritual Journey Part IV

Good morning, readers... Is it a good morning? I know for several families in Newtown, Connecticut, it isn't a good morning. For those of you who don't already know, there was a horrible shooting in that town and among the dead were 20 little children. They were five- and six-year-old babies, for babies they are at that age still. They're still young enough to cuddle close to you, young enough to see the world with loving eyes and young enough to hope for all.

I'm not going to discuss the "how could this happen" today. It's too soon. But what I will tell you is that I have had a lesson reinforced.  There is, without a doubt in my mind, evil in this world. I needn't write why as we saw it in a school in a small town. We have seen it in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, at a summer camp in Sweden, and in events that stick in our minds and hearts.

For now, that is all I have to say.

The Spiritual Journey Part III

Hello again, readers of Peach Wookiee's Party. I apologize for taking so long in writing a new post, but real life has a nasty tendency of getting in the way. So what is the next thing I've learned in my spiritual journey? Well, the idea of suffering. In many modern Christian churches, it seems like suffering isn't really dealt with. You're supposed to suck it up and deal because there's got to be a reason for it. It seems every world religion has the idea that suffering is going to happen for whatever reason. It can be best summed up in five words: life is going to suck. Sometimes, it just is going to suck. You'll be going along, thinking your life is awesome and everything's going to work out great. And then, something just plain crappy happens. Can you figure out why it's happening? No. Can anyone else? Not really.

So how in the heck are you supposed to deal? Is it okay to cry about it? Ask God, "Why me?" Yeah, it is! Read the book of Job or the book of Psalms. The writers seem to be asking God, "Why in the heck am I getting dumped on?" Sometimes, there is no answer. A relative of mine maintains that suffering is part of human existence, and I agree with him.

What are your thoughts regarding suffering?

The Spiritual Journey Part II

Hello again, everyone! I'm sorry it's taken so long to update this blog, but as most of us know, spiritual journeys take time. I'm not expecting to figure things out overnight, but I hope to sort things out a bit quicker than the day of my death.

And so I come to my first truth regarding spirituality. The human being, in attempting to define his/her spirituality, is in a constant state of searching for what makes sense. A lot of people joined up with the Pentecostal movement because they felt there was something lacking in the churches they attended. They spoke in tongues and couldn't simply dismiss the experience. Their own churches didn't think it made sense, so these people looked for and formed something that did make sense to them.

I know I'm in a state of flux regarding my faith. I don't doubt that God exists and for me, Christianity makes a lot of sense. But I'm not quick to dismiss things that make sense from other faiths. I also happily recognize what Pope John Paul II said regarding Jews. They "are our elder brothers in the Faith."  That simple statement recognizes that without Judaism, Christianity would not exist. The place where Judaism and Christianity diverged was on Jesus' divinity. But does the Christian have things to learn from the Jew? I believe so.